I am looking to slowly upgrade the Yamaha yht-390 HTIB I have set up in a 10x10.5ft room. I watch a lot of blu-rays on my ps3 and play lots of video games. I listen to mostly alt rock. The whole upgrade is pretty cost prohibitive to about $300-$500 per upgrade. I pretty much have 3 questions:

1)First thing I was planning on changing was the mains to a set of M2's. Do you think this will be adequate in a room of this size? In the end I was looking to have the epic midi 125 setup.

2)Was thinking about changing the receiver next to a Denon AVR 590 or a Onkyo SR507. Should I leave that till later and which one of those 2 do you guys recommend?

3)I have read several post on the brightness of some axiom speakers. I have some klipsch quintet sl speakers, are they as ear ringing as those can be?

Xan, welcome. Yes, the M2s would certainly be fine in a very small room like that when supported by a sub, and you'll continue to use the Yamaha sub until the next purchase. When you do get a new sub, you might consider something a little more powerful than the 125, even for the small room.

Both of those receivers are fine, but yes, it'd be better to make the next buy a speaker and continue to use the Yamaha receiver. A set of QS4 surrounds or the new sub would be more beneficial.

The M2s would provide a very well-balanced sound in that room when a sub adds bass to fill in the bottom end. There would be no "brightness" which wasn't already in the program material being played at the time. The M2s have an accurate flat response above the low bass, not an elevated harshness. You might be interested in this recent competitive review against some rather more expensive rivals, where the M2s were found to be "least colored" and the reviewer concluded that Axiom had "knocked this one clear out of the park".

I would agree with JohnK, save the money for speakers and wait on the receiver upgrade.

If there is something you absolutely need for your setup that is available in the new receivers only, then I can speak to the 507. It is more than adequate to drive any Axioms up to and including M60's, especially in a small room. Keep in mind that Axiom speakers have a wonderful sensitivity spec, and require less power than expected. I have had zero regrets with my 507, and was oscillating between the 507 and 607 before going the 507 route.

One thing to keep in mind about the 507 is that is does not upconvert any video sources. If you have any other 507/Axiom questions, just shoot.

EDIT: originally edited for spelling, but thought I'd add that saving on the new receiver will greatly benefit the inevitable wish to upgrade from M2's to M3's to M22's...

Welcome to the forum xanstin.

The M2's would be great. If you have the ability to place a vertical M2 on top of your t.v for your centre channel (instead of the VP100) that would work awesome and can save you money in the process towards the EP350 subwoofer. I think it would be well worth the extra money for the EP350 because video games (ps3, xbox360) and blu-ray movies have such spectacular LFE moments, not to mention great surround use in which the QS4's will just envelop you in. I think you would be floored with this type of setup in your small room.

Also you can order from the factory outlet which offers 10% off.

Cheers!

Golden I am looking to upgrade the receiver because the current one only has hdmi passthru so I have to use seperate optical cables and I dont have enough inputs to connect the 3 items I currently have.

I would love to get the ep350 but I think that will fall out of my budget. The other problem is the space I have for the subwoofer is pretty tight gonna have to measure to see if the 350 will fit. Hopefully things will change by then, but I will definetely start with the m2's

Yes, the 507 is the sweetspot for you then, plenty of HDMI inputs to use. And unlike last years models (506, 606) it doest freakout when you plug a PS3 in via HDMI. As a side note, heat issues are a lot better as well.

Welcome to the forum, the M3s should impress.

Get the M80's, you won't need a sub... trust me



Ok so maybe they're out of your price range, but if the speakers you're looking at are anything like the M80's then don't worry about the whole 'bright' stigma they seem to have aquired out of nowhere, it's unfounded. Sure a subwoofer adds to the bottom end of any HT system, but these Axioms play clear and loud. Trying to reach the top limit (+10) on my Denon last night, I got to around +5 and it was almost too much for my ears to take... not a hint of distortion mind you, turned it to +6 and tripped the breaker.... ugggg... I need to run a separate breaker for these bad boys I guess!!!

I was surprised with the bass of the M80s when I first hooked them up, you can really feel the 'punch'. My old speakers had 12" woofers but the "little" drivers on the Axioms put them to shame.

There is definetely no room for the m80's...lol floor space is at a premium in my tiny room.